'No one saw this coming'- Government needs to visit Specsavers

This surely is the epitaph for Brian Cowen's government. When the economy went bust all the experts inside and outside of Leinster House used the mantra that there was no indication that this collapse was on the cards.

When the country flooded late last year any criticism of the Government's response was once again rebutted with the line that this couldn't have been predicted.

Then the snow and ice came and what do you think happened?
Yes, the excuse for needlessly allowing the country to grind to a halt was that 'no one saw this coming'.

All three events which have exposed the lack of organisation and command at central, and indeed local level.
The financial crash was a worldwide issue; the flooding was due to historically high rainfall; and the freezing temperatures were the worst since the 1980s.
All three excuses are true; but it's how the Government responded in all three cases that is the problem.

For Minister Gormley and the Taoiseach to use this sort of guff to try to explain why they were so badly caught asleep on the job, is pitiful.
Gormley's attempts to pass the buck on Prime Time last week concerning who reported to him and who didn't, shows us that he has bought into the Fianna Fail way of doing business.
Blame the system for your own failure and establish a committee to make sure it never happens again.

These guys think that rounding up a few heads of department, and a couple of outsiders with some credibility, and using the phrase 'emergency response' to describe the work of the committee, is the way to keep the angry punters off their backs.

There must be serious concern now that the State can respond to any major national emergency without putting on the usual Keystone Cops performance.
The emergency plans of all local authorities should now be the subject of independent examination.
Some of them read like something out of Alice in Wonderland. They would crumble under the pressure of even the slightest test.

I'm suggesting that the ad agency that runs the Specsavers account use the economic crash, the flooding and the Big Freeze as the backdrop for their next campaign.
Use all the news clips of Cowen, Coughlan and Gormley repeating the 'no one saw this coming' mantra, and they will be onto a winner.
It would be very funny too, if it wasn't so serious.